Specificity

After being back in the USA for a week (after my three-ish week trip to Europe) the one word that describes the physically taxing feeling in my body right now is specificity. Many years ago I completed my Certificate IV in Fitness (to be become a Fitness Instructor). One of the concepts that you are taught is that the body will get used to one type of exercise/routine and it is beneficial to switch things up to shock the body in order to continue the gains.

Throughout my vacation I exercised nearly every day, whether that was in the hotel gym or a jog outside in a new country; plus a _lot_ of walking. I didn’t feel that I changed my workout routine too much to what I would normally do when in working. This week I am living in a new location and now have no access to a gym or a treadmill. Therefore all of my workout sessions are outside with no tools to leverage. The terrain is also different as I’m not on the coast anymore (flat paths/roads) but now live in a very hilly area. The best part is that there are a large set of stairs just down the road from where I live. Putting all that together my workout this week has been:

Saturday: 3 x up Culver City stairs (more of a hike workout but up very uneven stairs; approximately 282ish)

Sunday: Day off

Monday: Small jog (3 miles)

Tuesday: Hill walk around the neighbourhood

Wednesday: Stair sprints up Silver Lake stairs

Thursday: Long run (5 miles)

Friday: Body weight exercises (Push-ups, dips, chin-ups, sit-ups, planks)

The result is an extremely sore body that is screaming hurt! This is a good thing and that is the best way to describe specificity in fitness.

Bottom line, mix things up, try something new and always have fun. Keep it interesting.